NIELS HEBER ANDERSON MEMORIES OF SHOOTING OF SHERIFF JAMES BURNS

 

 Niels Heber Anderson 

 Niels Heber Anderson 

 Father lived in a most exciting period of the earth's history. He drove oxen and lived to see automobiles and the airplane. 

Apparently some sheep stealing had been going on in Sanpete County. Bill Brewer of Mt. Pleasant, Scott Bruno and my father, Niels Heber Anderson, of Moroni, on the 26th day of November, 1894, in company with Sheriff James Burns, came upon Moan Kofford and Jim Mickle at Reader's Ridge, back of the Horse Shoe Mountain.

Evidence of the changing of the ear marks in sheep and brands made it quite clear that certain sheep had been stolen. Sheriff Burns made an attempt to place Moan Kofford and Jim Mickle under arrest without first disarming them. As he approached them they shot and killed the sheriff, then warned the other men that if they did not stay out of the affair they would receive the same treatment as had been given the sheriff.

Hilda Madsen Longsdorf, in her book entitled Mount Pleasant, recorded the incident as follows: "November 26, 1894, Sheriff James Burns, while attempting to place Moan Kofford and Jim Mickle under arrest for stealing sheep, was shot and killed by them, several shots entering his body. The shooting took place on Reader's Ridge, back of the Horse Shoe Mountains, also called Orson Hyde's Arm Chair, or the Bishop's Chair. Bill Brewer, Heber Anderson and Scott Bruno witnessed the shooting. Bill Brewer and Anderson brought the news to Spring City. Thomas Braby, with the militia of Mt. Pleasant, was soon on the scene of the shooting, and the body was taken to Mt. Pleasant.
 Although the Militia searched and guarded for a couple of weeks in the ledges and dense timber, the murderers were never apprehended." (Mount Pleasant, 1859-1930, Hilda Madsen Longsdorf, Stevens and Wallacis, Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah. p. 175)

Father was nervous about the threat Kofford and Mickle had given him and the two other men and shortly after the incident, purchased a "six shooter" which he carried for several years thereafter. He told me that he had decided to sell his life as dearly as possible if ever he met Kofford or Mickle and the occasion might require it.

 Many years after the shooting of Sheriff Burns took place, Father was asked to accompany the Sanpete County law officials into Idaho. A certain man, while drinking in a bar boasted of having killed Sheriff James Burns in Sanpete County, Utah. He claimed to be Moan Kofford. He was arrested and was being held in jail until the matter could be investigated. Bill Brewer and Scott Bruno were deceased and father was the only living witness to the shooting.

Father was well acquainted with Moan Kofford and as he entered the jail, he could hear a man singing and this was something he had never known Kofford to have ever done; but to be positive of his identification, he asked the man to walk down the hallway. As he did so, Father was positive that he was not Moan Kofford because Kofford had a peculiar gait as he walked.

 Father said that he had seen Moan Kofford only once after the shooting. Kofford was driving a freight wagon near Levan and as their eyes met, Kofford pulled his hat down so as to cover his face and at the same time put the whip to the team.

Sheriff James Burns